Date: 4/19/25 6:32 am From: Lynette Leka <lynetteleka...> Subject: Re: [MASSBIRD] April 18, 205, Newton (NH): Did folks notice that a lot of juncos had departed, yesterday?
Newbury, MA, on the coast - after a winter of sparse Junco sightings here and there, a week ago they were suddenly plentiful in my yard, and is still the case...
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(by)..."not noticing birds in one's daily environment, one misses a whole segment of life on earth that can deliver joy every day." Bruce M. Beehler, 2019
Lynette Leka
Newbury, MA 01951
email: <lynette.leka...>
On Friday, April 18, 2025 at 08:42:44 PM EDT, Dorothy Anderson <andersondorothy72...> wrote:
Also foy chipping sp
On Fri, Apr 18, 2025 at 7:31 PM Liz Pease <lizpease...> wrote:
Still here today in Salisbury, though definitely in smaller numbers. Thanks for inspiring me to go take a close look Matt!
Liz <Peaselizpease...> MA
On Fri, Apr 18, 2025 at 6:34 PM Dorothy Anderson <andersondorothy72...> wrote:
Mine are still here and for the first time are taking seeds right out of the feeder.
On Fri, Apr 18, 2025 at 5:05 PM Aimée Sands <amsproductions...> wrote:
You’re right and I hadn’t noticed! The juncoes are suddenly gone! It seemed they were here for an exceptionally long time. And it does seem they left the day the white throated sparrow arrived here in JP.Aimée Sands
On Apr 18, 2025, at 9:01 AM, Matt S. <accipiter22...> wrote:
Hi All,
We've had at least 10 juncos, give or take, in our yard all winter, sometimes much more. For the past six weeks or so they've been singing, and the past few weeks it's been a constant high-pitched trilling roar. It makes the yard more exciting, I think. Yesterday when I stepped outside I noticed a complete silence, accented by the fact that even the cardinals and various finches weren't singing either. I figured there was a predator nearby, as I went about my yard, some things called here or there, but no juncos. The absence of their song was loud, if that makes sense. The world seemed a little stiller without their song. I noticed a couple were still here, pursuing each other aggressively around the yard as they've been doing, but through the several hours I was outside I only noticed a couple bars of song from them. Anyone else have their yard juncos ride out on the warm air the last few days?
I always enjoy juncos, when I was young and still learning about birds, I thought it was interesting that southward migration included birds that came south to New England for the winter. Juncos were a pretty easy ID, even for a kid, and a book I read said that Native American populations in the area called them snowbirds, since they usually portended winter. I would track how many weeks they arrived before first snow hit. I was equally excited by white-throated sparrows coming in, but I don't recall them in the kind of numbers we had juncos.
Safe travels friends!
Matt SNewton, <NHAccipiter22...>
